Flight of Chaos
by Hexe
Summary: Greggo has a bit of a surprise planned for Sara. Will it work as planned, or is this a recipe for disaster? Sequel to Spiral of Chaos.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Characters created by Anthony E. Zuicker. I have absolutely no claim to them, though I do promise to return them in reasonably good condition when I'm done… though I wouldn't mind keeping Greggo for myself!

Author's Note: Okay people, here be the sequel to Spiral of Chaos. If you haven't read that, I'd suggest you do, unless you're just happy to know that Greg and Sara are together and don't care why, lol. Hope I'll get some of you lovely reviewers from SPoC back for this one :o)

Chapter 1

"Greg Sanders, you get your cute ass back here, _now_!" Sara screamed at the top of her lungs, not even realising that she had inserted an adjective- a not entirely workplace appropriate adjective- into the exclamation. When she got her hands on that lab-rat, he was going to regret it. Big time. She was going to make that boy regret it in a way that he could not even imagine, and considering the fact that he was her boyfriend and pretty darn good at imagining things she could do to him, that was saying something.

"Not on your life, sweetie," Greg laughed, hastening down the corridor. Even after almost a year of going out with the woman, she could still make him go shaky at the knees. Although, usually it was with something other than the slight sense of fear he was feeling at this second. Sara was a scary woman when riled, and damn was she riled right now. He was just hoping that the reason _why_ he had snuck up behind her and stolen her cup of coffee was going to be enough to placate her.

He turned the corner, spinning into Grissom's office, and smiling around at the rest of the Graveyard shift of the Las Vegas CSI. "She's on her way, guys."

Catherine met his mischievous grin with a raised eyebrow, "Greggo… if that's her coffee, she's going to be mighty pissed at you when she gets here. You might want to get into position. Easier to protect your 'boys' if you're down on one knee, anyway."

Greg truly hadn't considered that one. "Errr… can someone hold the door for a second?" he asked sheepishly, patting at the pockets of his lab coat for the ring-box that he knew was in there. Puling it out victoriously, he lowered himself to one knee and nodded at Catherine, who was holding the doorknob in an attempt to keep the door shut until he was ready to face his rather irate girlfriend. The woman who he would awfully like to be able to call his fiance after tonight.

Sara flew into Grissom's office, the scowl on her face darker than any Greg nor the remainder of the team had seen in a long while. "Uh oh," Catherine murmured in Warrick's ear, "I hope she doesn't throw the ring in his face."

Greg's knees were starting to get a little uncomfortable- who would have known that this proposing thing could be so hard- and yet Sara didn't seem to have noticed him. She was glaring angrily around… right over his head. He cleared his throat loudly, and every set of eyes shot downwards.

"Greg, get up off the floor!" Sara said in exasperation, "grovelling isn't going to do you any good." She turned to Catherine, "Give me that coffee!" as to why the entire shift was gathered in Grissom's office, she didn't know. But Catherine had her coffee, and Sara had work that needed to be done. And to do that work, she needed to be sharp, and thus needed that caffeine jolt.

"Sara… will you _listen_ for a second?" Greg asked, "I'm down on one knee here. Think through the lack-of-sleep haze and go past the fact that I stole your coffee!"

"Huh?" Sara said, voice and eyes blank. Floor.. one knee…boyfriend… jewellery box in hand. She just stared, the facts trying to combine themselves in her sleep-deprived brain. They were on the tail-end of a double shift, and she was rather close to wishing she was the subject of the investigation. Though, if she had to spend much more time here, she suspected that one of her co-workers might be the subject of a _new_ investigation. And Greg was certainly headed that way.

"Of for God's sake!" Greg said, not sure to laugh or burst out crying. The woman was totally not getting this. He was going to have to take drastic action. "Sara… sit down on Grissom's desk." Afterall, he didn't want her falling over when he asked her to marry him. He didn't think she would start rolling on the ground finding the whole idea so hilarious… but he wasn't leaving anything to chance.

Automatically following the instruction, Sara plopped her butt down and Greg grabbed hold of her hand. "Sara Sidle, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?" There, it was out, and the ball was well and truly in her court. He was starting to wonder why he's decided to do this in front of all their friends… if she said no, they were going to be ridiculed forevermore. He should have discussed this with her… but, he'd wanted to be romantic, and well, they had been going out tonight, but murder cases couldn't wait for marriage proposals. And Greg couldn't bear the thought of postponing this, so here in Grissom's office it was.

"Uhhhh…Greg, did you just ask me to marry you?" Sara asked blankly. At his nod, she stared- her eyes not blank anymore. She was fully alert, and felt like she'd just got the caffeine jolt from 10 extra strong cups of coffee. "Is there something I'm supposed to say now? I've never done this replying to a marriage proposal thingy before…"

"Yes would be a nice start," Greg said, anxiously. Was this how people were meant to react when their significant other asked them to marry them? He was a bit of a newbie on the proposal grounds as well. But then, he and Sara were hardly a typical couple, it would be weird if she reacted in the typical way. And at least she wasn't laughing at him. That had to be a good sign, right?

"Yes!" Sara said, in a voice so unlike her usual tone everyone stared. They were not used to Sara Sidle squealing. Hell, Sara wasn't used to _herself_ squealing. But it seemed like an appropriate reaction. Wow… when had Greg planned this? She hadn't been expecting it at all. He had been acting a little secretive for a few weeks, but she had thought he had just been planning something nice for their one-year anniversary in a few weeks. Seemed like he most definitely had been – this was certainly nice. But extremely unexpected.

She became slowly aware that Greg was doing what could only be described as a happy-dance around the room, swinging Catherine around with him. The older CSI's looked bemused, but happy. Catherine broke out of Greg's dance with a laugh, and jabbed him in the ribs with an elbow, "You're forgetting something, Sanders."

"Oh?" Greg said worriedly, "What's that?"

Four heads nodded towards his pocket, where he had unthinkingly dropped the ring box in his exuberance at Sara's acceptance.

"The ring," Grissom reminded with raised eyebrows, "It's generally considered traditional to slip the ring on the finger once the woman has accepted the proposal."

"Hehe.." Greg said sheepishly, digging the ring out again and offering it to Sara, "here you go."

"Oh Greg! It's beautiful!" Sara said. Not the traditional diamond – while that was all well and good, it wasn't really her scene, but silver with tiny emeralds dotted around the band. Much more suitable to them both, and unique. She slid it on her finger and just gazed for a moment. This was all rather overwhelming. She was going to be getting _married_! To _Greg_ of all people. She loved the boy dearly, but thoughts of marriage had never truly flitted through her brain. Well, accept when she had been drunk… and she wasn't going to say she'd never had dreams about it. But she hadn't expected Greg to ever actually ask her!

As the full situation fell upon her, she was awfully glad that she was sitting down. Greg had asked her to _marry_ him! There was going to be a wedding! She was going to be a bride! She needed to tell everyone she knew! Immediately, if not sooner! But first, she needed her coffee. Coffee was good… it would get rid of this haze surrounding her brain.

She snatched her now lukewarm coffee back from Catherine and gulped it down. "Caffeine… my friend," she said, contentedly.

Greg just stared at his now- fiance. She seemed nearly as happy to have her coffee back as she was about his wedding proposal. But then, coffee was a staple of a CSI's diet… he supposed he was going to have to get used to sharing his special blend, if he was going to marry the woman.

He grinned a huge grin. He was getting married! And to Sara Sidle, the woman he had lusted after as long as he had worked here, no less. Life was good. Life was _damn_ good.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** Characters are not mine, unfortunately. Story however is mine – kindly don't distribute it unless you ask, and I give permission.

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**Chapter 2**

Sara paced her apartment, way too hyped to sleep, even though she had only just gotten off a 16 hours shift. She hadn't been capable of functioning for the last couple of hours of that shift, because her mind had just been running a marathon around the world, or so it seemed – it had definitely been bouncing off the roof, at the very least. Before the surprise of her lifetime had been thrust upon her, she had been ready to crash, and very, very cranky. Now, she was….floaty. Yes. Floaty was definitely the word for how she was feeling at the moment. But then, she supposed that was how all Brides-to-be felt. How odd it was to think that she was one of those now.

She loved Greg. Loved him with all her heart, though she would never admit it to anyone – Sara was always afraid that if he knew just how much she loved him, depended on him now, he would get scared, and leave her. And she did not think that she could cope with that. Life had been simple a year ago, when it was just her. Until a simple deception had spiralled all the way out of control. But that spiralling deception had been the best thing that had ever happened to her. It had shown her how deeply she really felt for Greg – it had brought them to the point that they had reached, just two hours ago. The point where Greg Sanders had asked Sara Sidle to marry him.

Her heart soared just thinking of it. She was getting married! And she had the ring to prove it. She gently trailed her fingers over the beautiful silver band that she swore she would never take off. It felt right there, just as it felt right, if extremely weird, that at some point in the future she would be marrying Greg. She had never imagined that the two of them would get married, for the mere reason that she couldn't allow herself to – not when she was awake and sober, anyway. If she had let it get into her head that maybe they could get married, and then the time had passed without either of them making any actual moves towards making it happen, then she knew that she would get nervous. She would wonder if Greg truly loved her, if he didn't have the courage to ask her to marry him, when it should be so obvious what her answer would be. And then she would worry that it was _her_ fault – that she had somehow made him think that she would turn him down if he asked, and so he didn't want to, because he was happy being with her.

But he had asked, and the romance of it had blown her away. Once she got some caffeine into her and realised what was actually happening, anyway. She would have to make up to him for her reaction to the proposal, later. Her brain was never at its best when she hadn't slept, and she had seen the shadow of worry in his eyes when he had asked the question and she had not comprehended it – she had not realised until later what it was though – to her sleep and caffeine deprived brain, it had just seemed like he was worried that she was going to kill him for stealing her coffee. Which indeed, she had been going to; until he had floored her with his proposal, and thrown all thought of killing him out of her head. She couldn't kill her future husband – though God knew, some people did – because, she loved him, and she wanted him to be her present, her future, and her forever husband. It would be a little hard for him to be that if she murdered him over something so small as coffee-napping. Besides, his special blend was better than the muck they usually got at the lab – and once she was his wife, she by law was entitled to half of what was his. And she was fully prepared to fight that right in a court of law, if she had to.

She smiled dreamily. She was going to marry Greg Sanders. Then her brain snapped back to reality.

Hang on. She was going to marry _Greg Sanders_?? The lab rat who she had been working with for years, and only dating for one. She couldn't marry him! She didn't know him properly yet – they had only really known each other for a year. That wasn't enough time to get to know someone well enough to spend your whole life with them, no matter how much you loved them! What was she thinking? Her brain must have been addled by lack of sleep! And coffee! It was the only explanation. She would have to ring him, and tell him that she couldn't marry him. Marriage wasn't something to enter into at the drop of a hat, after all.

Panicked now, she lunged for the phone, picked it up, dialled. Then she breathed a sigh of relief when the person on the other end answered with a sleepy "Hello?"

"It's me! I've gone nuts!"

"Sara?" the voice asked, heavy with confusion, "You do realise that I only saw you an hour ago, don't you?"

"Catherine! Wake _up_! This is an emergency. I've lost my mind."

"You're calling me, at home, when we've only just got off a double. I could have told you that." There was irritation entering the voice now. Catherine valued her sleep, and much as she loved Sara, there was a limit to friendship. And this phone conversation was breaking it."

"Oh… right… sorry," Sara said, a little sheepishly, "But it _is_ an emergency! Cath, I told Greg I'd _marry him_!"

"Yes, I know – and I'm very happy for you, but can we talk about that later, please? I don't think I have enough energy to be excited right now, okay?" Catherine's voice was already re-entering the realms of sleep, along with the rest of her. And she intended to stay in that realm for just as long as she possibly could.

"…Catherine? Are you still awake?"

"Sara, go _away_!"

"I will in a minute. I've got to call Greg and tell him I can't marry him, anyway. I just needed to talk to you first. I'm doing the right thing, aren't I? There's no way we can actually get married – we're too different! And we certainly haven't spent enough time together to be able to make a marriage work."

Catherine sat up with a groan. It seemed like she was going to have to wait a little bit longer to get some sleep. "What do you mean you can't marry him? You two are perfect for each other – and I don't think I've ever seen two people as lovey-dovey as you. If it wasn't you two, it would be sickening. You're lucky you're both so cute."

"Well… yes… I love him. But that's not enough reason to _marry_ him is it?"

"How do you think people have been doing it for thousands of years? Look, can you imagine your life without him in it?" Catherine knew from experience that, though love didn't always last, it was obvious from the outside which cases would. And Sara and Greg definitely fell firmly into that camp.

"Well… no…" Sara said, her resolve faltering. Was she making a hasty decision here? She really did love Greg – and she didn't think that many relationships could last out a rejected proposal – or rather, an accepted proposal that was later broken off on account of nerves.

"And do you _want_ to marry him?"

"Well…yes…" Her voice was soft now, the panic gone, replaced by insecurity. She really, really did want to marry Greg – she couldn't think of anything she would like more than to spend the rest of her life with him, as his wife. But what if it didn't work out? But then, no-one could ever predict if that was going to happen. She let out a heavy sigh. "I'm just being silly, aren't I? I need some sleep. Thanks, Cath… see you at work."

Catherine grunted in assent, and was asleep again within seconds.

Fatigue settling over her, now that both jubilation and panic had subsided, Sara wearily crossed the room to her bed, the metres feeling like miles. There was no doubt that this was going to be a huge change, and a scary time for both her and Greg, but the worries didn't need to be aired tonight. They could talk about this, about everything, later.

She snuggled under the bedclothes, allowing a small smile to grace her lips again.

She was engaged to a wonderful man, and she had over 24 hours until her next shift, in which to sleep, relax, and do whatever she wanted. What more could a woman want?


End file.
